GM Restarts Chevy Volt Production Earlier than Expected

GM halted production of the Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid in early March due to rising inventory, but now the automaker has restarted production earlier than expected. GM originally planned on temporarily halting production from March 19 to April 23 to reduce the inventory of unsold Volts sitting in Chevy showrooms, but production has been restarted a week earlier than planned, thanks to increased demand.

At the end of February, GM had 6,300 Volts in its inventory, which was enough to supply dealers for 154 days at the current selling rate. GM also only sold 1,023 Volts in February, which was up from 603 in January, prompting GM to temporarily stop production. Last month things looked up for GM and the Chevy Volt, as sales in the U.S. rose to 2,289 units, which was up an astonishing 277% from sales in March 2011.

The rising sales in March and the fact that production has been restarted a week earlier than planned shows that things are changing for the better for GM’s plug-in hybrid. It looks like the NHTSA safety investigation earlier this year and the political backlash that followed are a thing of the past.